SolitaryRoamer

Rockin' with Frampton and more

Another busy but fun week is gone and I’m not quite ready for the next one to start. Yes, it’s 5:49 a.m. Monday as I begin to type this. I took a nap for a couple of hours Sunday evening then got up and began to edit photos, write a travel story and write a blog for work. So I decided I would just stay up since I’m interviewing the drummer from Shinedown in a few hours and don’t want to sleep through it.

The week started off slow. I didn’t feel that great on Monday so I went home early but began feeling better in the afternoon. After making 72-hour kits at my singles branch’s family home evening activity, I took my friend Shiree out to the local Spoon Me frozen yogurt shop for a food review. Obvious jokes aside, it was a fun time with a good treat (I’m talking about the yogurt).

But Tuesday I was still feeling exhausted and didn’t get into work until late. So I ended up staying there late too, but did go out to dinner with a few coworkers.

Wednesday, however, was where the real fun happened. It was the day of the Peter Frampton concert and my friend/upstairs neighbor Janell was going to the concert with me. But I had a fun Frampton moment earlier in the day as I logged onto Twitter and saw that Peter Frampton himself had re-tweeted one of my earlier posts, which read: “Tuacahn comes alive tonight! @PeterFrampton will rock the red rocks.” Finally, I had achieved my goal of getting a celebrity RT.

I was told I would get meet & greet passes but wasn’t sure if it would work out. I was supposed to be able to meet both Gladys Knight and Foreigner earlier this year at Tuacahn concerts but they canceled their meet & greets. But I did get to meet Charlie Daniels, the guys from America and four of the American Idols, including Melinda Doolittle.

The concert was great (you can read my review for TheSpectrum.com here). And we did get to meet Frampton very briefly after the show. Since it was toward the end of his tour he was apparently quite tired. He didn’t sign anything and we were all basically limited to a quick photo with him (photo is coming). But right after the photo I told him I was the reporter who interviewed him for the local paper and also thanked him for the re-tweet earlier. He made the connection and a big smile formed on his face. He thanked me for the article and shook my hand.

Then the next day I logged onto Twitter again and found a surprise. Frampton had found my review of his show online and tweeted the link. And he sent me an @ message via Twitter: “Thanks so much for the review. I am sorry we didn't get to spend more time after the show. I WILL be back thanks to all there!!”

I spent the bulk of Thursday in the Enterprise area writing about Jason Knowles, a young man with some developmental and physical challenges who wanted to help his community. So he began collecting recycling from his neighbors and talking it to the local bins. You can read my story here and watch the video I helped our photo editor shoot here. I also did a little scenic drive along the Crestline Road between Enterprise and Panaca, Nevada, for my Backways & Byways column.

I spent Thursday night on the phone telling my dad about my adventures with Peter Frampton and calling to set up about a dozen appointments for my branch president at church. I had big plans to write a couple of stories that night but it didn’t happen. So I spent Friday morning and early afternoon finishing the Jason Knowles story and the story about Ramadan that came from my dinner with the Muslim family in Cedar City the previous week.

My plans for Saturday included one event: The first Zion Canyon Music Festival in Springdale. Because it was $20 to get in and I planned to be there all day, I didn’t think anyone would be interested in going. But Janell sent me a text late that morning and said she was interested. And I was happy to have the company. You can read more about that festival on my work blog here.

We did take a break from the festival to visit some of the galleries and grab dinner. We stopped by to see my friends Tim Campbell and Dave West, who both own galleries in Springdale. Janell was just as impressed with Dave’s photography as I am every time I visit him. And he’s just a genuinely nice guy, as is Tim. We a tasty dinner at Casa de Amigos, which is probably the best Mexican joint in Southern Utah.

Then it was back to the park to finish out the festival. Unfortunately a rainstorm decided to shut it down early. We initially fled in search of an umbrella and returned. But the rain was coming down so hard we decided to call it a night, completely forgetting that we had taken my cheapo camp chairs to sit on. Apparently they now live in Springdale.

On the way home we consoled ourselves for missing the headliners, The Mother Hips, by listening to some Frampton and singing along to “Baby I Love Your Way.”

It was probably good we got home a little early because I had a long day of church ahead of me Sunday. Because my branch president had so many appointments I decided to go into church early to make sure they went well. So I got there at 9:30 a.m. and didn’t leave until after 5 p.m. It was a long, long day, but my branch president’s day was much longer so I can’t complain too much. And it felt good to serve.

This week probably won’t be quite as exciting but there are some fun things planned for a few evenings. Thursday and Friday I’ll be reviewing a couple of plays at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. Then on Saturday night I’m attending a couple of art openings out at Kayenta. Plus I have to try and work ahead to get some extra stories done because I’ll be covering the LDS General Conference the first weekend of October.

Rockin' Robin and Michael Jackson

So it seems as if I’ve made it a habit of blogging on Sunday nights. But at least I’m blogging.

It was yet another busy week. I’m beginning to think those are the only kind of weeks that exist now. But I am hoping this next one will be a little slower-paced. I kicked off Tuesday with yet another impromptu interview with my branch president. Since I’m often sitting outside his office during interviews I usually end up getting called in for an impromptu discussion at some point in the evening, especially if one of the schedule interviewees doesn’t show. So, of course, my dating life was a topic of concern for him (I’m quickly approaching the magic age of 31 where you are not supposed to attend the YSA branch/ward anymore). I think he’s just as confused about my dating life as I am.

Wednesday took me north to Cedar City where I interviewed director/actor David Ivers for a story I’m working on for the fall season of the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I’ve admired Ivers’ work for a number of years (he directed last year’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”) so it was a neat opportunity to meet him. And later that night I had dinner with a Muslim family for a story I’m writing about Ramadan. I’ve been trying to track down a local Muslim family willing to talk with me for about five year now, so I’m pretty excited.

The next day I continued Shakespeare interview in Cedar before returning to St. George. And that night I took my friend Jana with me to see a concert at the Kayenta community featuring songs from musicals. I was expecting some good music, but the entire performance was actually very entertaining. There were great moments of both comedy and drama — though most of it was funny. Yet a few of the more dramatic elements were among the highlights, including “Bring Him Home” from “Les Miserables,” “Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera” and “Johanna” from “Sweeney Todd.”

Friday night brought a different kind of concert as six friends and I traveled out to Springdale to see the amazing Janet Robin in concert. She’s probably the best guitar player I’ve ever seen live. She does things on the acoustic guitar that you didn’t know were possible, often playing it like an electric. Plus she’s just a nice lady. I’ve interviewed her a few times and she’s always fun.

Friday also marked the day that my Peter Frampton story and blog ran in The Spectrum and on our Web site. And I wrote about the night hike with Jeremiah. So check them out.

I was supposed to rise early Saturday for a hike but was exhausted from the week. But I did manage to get up for a picnic at Sand Hollow Reservoir with Jen and a few others. It was a beautiful day with clear water and cool puffy clouds in the sky. You can see my photo gallery from the lake on my Facebook page.

Saturday just got better as the day progressed and it came time for my friend Brent’s Michael Jackson party. Brent had tickets to see MJ in London before the King of Pop passed away, so the party was in honor of that missed opportunity, and the chance to host a rockin’ BBQ at his pleasant backyard/patio. I tried to replace Michael by playing a thrilling version of “Beat It” on the guitar and, of course, many sported white gloves. Here is my iPhone gallery and Brent's Facebook gallery.

Plus, I got to rock my fedora for the first time.

But with the picnic and the party, I was distracted Saturday from my church calling and forgot to do a few things, which left me scrambling for much of my 6.5 hours at church today. But it all turned out OK and I even ended up joining the branch choir, just in time to perform in sacrament meeting a few hours later.

Touched again

You would think that with the extras stories I’m writing in my coworker’s absence I would be burned out on writing. With the exception of the major writer’s block case of nearly two weeks ago it’s been surprisingly the opposite. I feel like I’ve done some the best writing of the last few years in these last few weeks.

Of course, it’s probably not my actual writing so much as the stories and sources I’ve been blessed with. I mean how could it not be fun to write about a walk through the tunnel in Zion, especially when I had great sources like the 83-year-old woman celebrating her birthday with the walk, a 91-year-old man and a few adorable little girls. My blog for TheSpectrum.com talks further about my own tunnel experiences.

In the same day’s paper I had a story on a fascinating new drug detox program at a local spa. Again, the sources were the key here as I spoke with the eloquent Dr. Wilcox and convinced a 15-year-old (almost 16-year-old) heroin addict to talk with me as long as we didn’t use her name. This is was only the second story in my five-year history at The Spectrum where I’ve used unnamed sources. The only previous story was one involving a teenager boy who is gay and his family. Unfortunately, given the political/religious climate of Southern Utah, he is still in the closet at school because he fears for his safety.

The next story came the following Sunday as I finally released a story I had been working on for nearly two months featuring a couple of local sisters who spent the summer teaching school in India. I’ve already referred to the story — and how it brought me to tears — on this blog. Again, I was blessed with an eloquent source in one of the sisters, Amy, who graciously allowed me to quote the beautiful writing found in her blog.

That same Sunday I had the opportunity to attend a speech by President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and one of my favorite church speakers. Except this wasn’t a religious address. It was for students at Dixie State College and featured stories from President Eyring’s own education. Like the Zion tunnel story, my coverage of this event had to be quite short so I expanded it with a lengthy blog post at TheSpectrum.com

Finally this week I had another story bring me to tears. I don’t know if I’m just extra sensitive lately or if I’m just more in touch with my emotions. But it would have been hard for most people not to cry when they heard the story of “Maria.” Again — for the third time in my career — I wrote a story with an unnamed source, whom I refer to as “Maria” instead throughout the story. She is one of the most courageous people I’ve ever met. She’s a 23-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy who fled her abusive husband more than a year ago. The beatings he gave her hurt more than her body — they hurt her soul. She lost her self-esteem and tried to commit suicide. But then she found the Erin Kimball Memorial Foundation that helped her get back on her feet again and find herself once more. She used the word “angels” to describe the amazing women working with her there and I would agree.

Listening to Maria’s story I don’t know how anyone could raise a hand against her in anger. She just seemed so sweet and harmless. If she hadn’t told me she was 23 with a 6-year-old kid I would have figured she was still in high school. I just wanted to reach out and give her a big hug and protect her from that creature who failed to see her for who she really is. I’m normally not a violent person — I’m actually very much a pacifist — but I wanted to do to that man what he did to her … and worse.

Instead I decided to volunteer. Something stirred inside me when I heard Maria’s story. I knew there were so many more like her, many of whom have not yet had the courage to flee their abusers and seek help. So I told the women at the foundation that I wanted to help. I didn’t know what I could do but I offered my services and contacts to them. Finally, Sue Kimball, the executive director of the foundation, figured out a few tasks for me. Now I’m in the process of figured out how to set up a cause page for the organization on Facebook and I might also help edit the foundation’s newsletters. I’m just happy to help fight domestic abuse in some way.

God is in the rain

The busy life continues and it’s a fascinating ride. I find that I’m tired at the end of each day but not exhausted. I feel as if I’m fulfilling things and really living life. And that’s a good feeling.

As far as the church calling goes, I got out of Wednesday night branch presidency meeting this week but spent the time doing church stuff anyway. My friend Brent and I are home teaching companions and we are assigned to six different households; so we got a start on that.

Then I spent part of Saturday helping with baptisms for the dead for the first time in about six years — and my first time in the St. George Temple. The baptistery here is much bigger than the one in the tiny Spokane Temple where I last did baptisms for the dead.

And I was one of the lucky Utah Latter-day Saints that got to skip church today and participate in the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple via video transmission in my stake center. I had never been to a temple dedication before so that was a neat experience. And my mild migraine finally faded toward the end of the 90-minute session.

Work has been busy but going well. Things just seemed to flow this week. I wrote more stories than usual on top of extra editing duties because my coworker is still on maternity leave and I still ended up with enough hours to get started on a few things for next week. My favorite parts of work this week was interviewing the three lead actors for the local production of “Aida” at the Tuacahn Amphitheater, which I wrote about in my work blog. I returned to Tuacahn on Friday evening for a dress rehearsal of “Aida” and brought my friend Jana along with me. She was also nice enough to “help me out” with a food review at the lovely Riverwalk Grill in St. George, where I tried a seafood bisque for the first time.

I had all sorts of big plans for Saturday but I crashed instead. Mostly I spent the day shopping. Yep, shopping. For nearly five hours. First stop was the farmers market at Ancestor Square in St. George where I picked up some pears and something for my mom. I also bought some mangoes and sticky rice from Benja’s, a tasty Thai restaurant at Ancestor Square, for breakfast. Next it was off to the factory outlets, Old Navy and Target where I came away with five shirts, one pair of jeans, two pairs of shoes, six pairs of socks and a fedora for only about $150. Not bad.

After the temple experience, the best part of Saturday was the rain. It doesn’t rain nearly enough here in the desert. And this summer seems like it has been even drier than usual. And when it does rain in the desert it smells so good. It rained a little before I went to the temple and it was raining when we got out and went to Iceberg for milkshakes. So when I got home and it was still lightly raining I decided to go for a nighttime walk in the rain. I changed out of my suit and into shorts and flip-flops and set out to walk around my neighborhood, something I haven’t done in the four years I’ve lived here.

The cool raindrops felt so good after the heat of summer. It had been more than 100 degrees earlier that day but the storm cooled it down about 30 degrees. In many ways it was just as spiritual as my experience in the temple earlier that day. I’ve always felt a strong spiritual tie to nature. And that night it truly felt as if God was in the rain.

Nonstop

This is the first Saturday in weeks where I haven’t been going nonstop. I actually slept in until noon today — a much-needed time of rest. I’ve felt like I’ve been busy before but I think these past few weeks take the cake (to used a tired, old cliché that I really don’t understand).

It’s strange how things always seem to hit at the same time. Four years ago, during the late spring/summer of 2005 was one of those times. I was in the process of applying for a mortgage and buying my condo. Two of the reporters had quit, leaving only two of the four jobs on the news desk filled. Because of that I had to work six-day weeks and averaged 48-60 hours of work for a few weeks in a row. Plus I had just started dating a girl in Cedar City — 45 minutes away. Life was busy.

Last year I went through a similar period. My features editor quit, leaving my assistant editor, Lisa, and me to handle the features section ourselves. Since we weren’t paying an editor’s salary, Lisa and I were both allowed to work overtime. I had also recently been called to serve in the elders quorum presidency at church. And I was dating a girl at the time too.

This year, ever since I returned from a two-week vacation in early July it’s been crazy. I immediately started on a major cleaning/organizing project at my condo that has resulted in a good 40 hours or so of work and about eight tall garbage bags worth of recycling and an additional two bags of trash. I also started preparing some of my photography (below) to be shown (and hopefully sold) in Grün, a local gift shop. And about 10 days ago, Lisa, my assistant editor, had a baby and went on maternity leave. This time around I’m not allowed to use overtime, but I still have the pressure of trying to fit more stories, plus some editing duties, into my 40-hour work week.

 

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), this time around there isn’t a girl to worry about. I’ve been going on dates, but with a variety of girls — mostly from my church singles branch. The big time constraint now is my church calling. I thought the elders quorum presidency was a time killer — it’s nothing compared to executive secretary. It was my first day back to work following my two-week vacation that I got a call from a member of the stake presidency. So I’ve been serving in the calling for more than a month now and it only seems to be getting busier. In addition to the three-hour block of church services on Sunday, there is usually another three hours of meetings and other responsibilities. Then on Tuesday nights I usually hang out at the church to manage my branch president’s schedule as he meets with various members of our branch. Then on Wednesday nights we have branch presidency meetings. The first one was only about an hour, but the last couple have both stretched past the three-hour mark.

It’s exhausting, but I also feel like I’m accomplishing a lot. I’m excited for the prospects of making money through a creative outlet with my photography. The absence of my coworker for three months allows me to show what I’m capable of and prove that I’m worth keeping around the next time layoffs come calling. And church service always makes me feel like I’m contributing something to a greater good.

But I wouldn’t mind a little more time for sleeping …

Polygamists and Radiohead

Another iPhone update here. I just saw an interesting version of "Julius Caesar" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. It was a dress rehearsal so they were still working out some of the kinks. Still it was quite fascinating with a bunch of cool sound and lighting effects. It was also set in the present day so Brutus wore a suit instead of a toga. My favorite part, though, was when Lucius began playing a Radiohead song.

Following the play I saw the festival's executive director so I sat and talked with him for a while. He gave me some really interesting insights into the play and theater in general.

By 11 p.m., however, I was pretty hungry so I stopped by Wendy's for some chicken nuggets and a DP. I pulled up behind a horse trailer, thinking it was kind of odd to see a horse trailer in a drive-through. Suddenly I saw the backing lights come on and the trailer began to move toward me. Luckily I was able to back up so I did. The truck and trailer seemed to be making the turn so I pulled up and ordered.

As I finished I noticed the backing lights come on again so I put my own car in reverse. But this time there was a car behind me so I couldn't move as the trailer came toward me. It was only inches away from crunching into me when the car behind me realized what was going to happen and backed up.

I narrowly escaped.

Eventually the truck just pulled out of the drive-through and I saw a teenage polygamist girl (probably a mother of three by now) run up to the window. And thus my question was answered: Who takes a horse trailer through the drive-through?

Reflecting on tragedy and freedom

As I write this I’m watching seven-year-old news coverage of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. MSNBC is rerunning its own news coverage from that day as it happened. I was asleep for the first few hours of that episode, waking up shortly after the towers collapsed. Of course I had seen most of the footage over and over in the ensuing days — and years — but there is something eerily chilling to watch it as it unfolded, knowing what the ultimate outcome would be.

It’s still devastating. It still brings tears to my eyes.

As I write this I’m also working on a story about the Obama campaign in Utah for USA TODAY. I respect both Obama and McCain for abandoning politics this day out of respect for its historic significance. But with the campaign on my mind I wonder how history would have changed if either of them were president on that day. How would they react?

I believe John McCain would have acted similarly to George W. Bush. But would he have allowed advisers to talk him into taking the war on terror to a sovereign nation that had never attacked us? I don’t know. Somehow, though, I think he is just as trigger happy as Dubya.

As for Obama, I think it would be different. I believe he would have gone after Bin Laden in Afghanistan. I think that was the right choice and I still support Bush’s decision to do that. What I don’t support was how Bush gave up on finding the man who attacked us and instead went after one who didn’t. I don’t think Obama would have made that same decision.

That sense of judgment is why I’m supporting Barack Obama for president. He may have never served in the military but he knows the responsibility of the president is to send our military into harm’s way only when absolutely necessary.

It also leads to something I’ve been pondering lately. Among the various and changing reasons the Bush Administration offered for going into Iraq was the mantra of, “We’re fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here.” That’s a load of crap.

Yes, there was a devastating loss of American lives on Sept. 11, 2001. But there’s been an even more devastating loss of Iraqi life since we invaded that country. The “insurgents” and terrorists are not the only ones we’ve been killing. We’ve killed more civilians there per year since this war began than Saddam did. A terrorist attack the size of the one seven years ago was unlikely to occur again, though it may have happened. But what gives us the right to kill Iraqi citizens to protect our own? How are we any better?

The God I believe in is no respecter of persons. He loves the Muslim in Iraq just as much as he loves the best Christian in the world. Each life is precious unto him.

You could make a case for war in Iraq if that country was harboring those who attacked us as the Taliban in Afghanistan was. But Saddam was not harboring terrorists. He was not associated with terrorists. He was not building weapons of mass destruction. He did not pose a significant threat to the United States. So why did we go after him?

It’s something I’ll never understand. I will also never understand how Bush was never impeached. He attacked a country that never attacked us. He didn’t give our soldiers the necessary protection after sending them into harm’s way. He didn’t take care of them when they came home. He authorized torture of prisoners. He refused basic human rights to “enemy combatants.” He spied on American citizens. And his party’s deregulations of the housing industry which led to the sub-prime mortgage crisis collapsed the economy while the government ran up the deficit though a never-ending war.

This is why I’m voting for Barack Obama. John McCain used to be a maverick. He used to stand up to his own party when he saw injustice. But that was still only on occasion, maybe five to 10 percent of the time. The other 90 percent of the time or more he was in lockstep with George W. Bush — the man responsible for the downfall of this country’s economy and moral standing in the world at large.

John McCain will only continue the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration. We cannot afford that as a nation. We owe it to those who died seven years ago to not let the terrorists win. The deaths of Sept. 11, 2001, was not the greatest victory for the terrorists. The seven years since that time became their greatest victory. Every time our own government cracked down on its citizens, every time our government spied on us, every time our government lashed out at those who didn’t attack us, every time freedoms were curbed and religious strife reared its ugly head the terrorists won.

We must not let them continue to win. We must fight back and refuse to let our morals collapse. Our values are what makes the United States of America a great nation. Bush has eroded those values more than any other president in history. Bush has aided the terrorists in their real goal. The best way to destroy a freedom-loving country is not to kill its people but to kill its freedom.

Trippin' again and saintly lawyer jokes

So I never posted days 3 and 4 of the Arizona trip ... but they rocked. Now I'm in the middle of yet another work trip. I'm up in SLC covering the LDS General Conference again. On my way up yesterday I stopped to do an installment in my Small Town Life series in the community of Manderfield, just north of Beaver. I also ended up doing a nice little scenic drive for my Backways & Byways column up Indian Creek canyon. Tomorrow I have another day of conference coverage then I'm headed home to Rexburg in the evening. I'll spend Monday and Tuesday hangin' with the parents before returning to St. George on Wednesday.

Conference was interesting today because there was a solemn assembly to sustain Thomas S. Monson as the new president and prophet of the church. They also announced a new apostle, D. Todd Christofferson. I attended a press conference with Elder Christofferson and decided he was a pretty cool guy. He used to be both an attorney and a banker and he wasn't afraid of a little self-deprecating humor about either of his past careers. As you can see by the image to the left, he's a fairly jovial guy.

Finally touched

Our coverage of President Hinckley’s death continued today. I spent 10 hours working on two reaction pieces to his passing — one focusing on Latter-day Saints and another focusing on leaders from other faiths.

Unfortunately my story did not appear in the print edition of USA TODAY. I’m not sure what happened since it was still planned when I got off the phone with an editor there at about midnight Sunday night/Monday morning. But my articles in The Spectrum garnered plenty of attention, nearly all of it positive. I actually received quite a few compliments today. One person even threw in some good words about my travel writing in an e-mail to my editor, Todd. Another told me to tell my editor that I deserved a raise.

I was feeling about that the reality of President Hinckley’s passing had not hit me until I was nearly done with my second story. Finally all the stories of how President Hinckley touched the lives of those I talked to finally got to me and the tears came. Luckily it was about 7 p.m. and many of my coworkers had already gone home.

So I decided to continue my tribute to President Hinckley on my literature blog, The Epiphany of Truth. His teachings have been important to me in my life so I shared some of my favorites from his book, “Stand A Little Taller.”

Death of a spiritual giant

It still hasn’t hit me. One of the greatest individuals in the world passed away five hours ago but it still doesn’t seem real. Gordon B. Hinckley, president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was a giant of a man. I’m a writer, but the words are not there right now.

My disconnect comes from my occupation. I actually wrote President Hinckley’s obituary and a variety of other stories about his life and position about 17 months ago. We had a scare then when my editor heard from a source that President Hinckley was on his deathbed. It turns out that he was not, but we figured it was a good idea to have the stories on hand. I’ve updated them a few times since then. But now it finally happened.

I wasn’t even at work when it happened. I had gathered with a few friends for dinner when all of us began to receive text messages with the news. I called the office and they were just hearing about it as well. Since I had not driven to my friend’s house, my other friend, Brent, let me take his truck and I was on my way. So as I tried to remember how to drive a stick, I was calling those nearest to me with the news. Then I realized I should probably get a hold of USA TODAY.

First I got through to usatoday.com and they said I should send them what I had. Soon a woman from the print edition called and said they wanted the story as well — in five minutes. Luckily I had already interviewed a couple of people by then so I had a few comments to stick into the pre-written story and got them a shortened version of it in 10 minutes. Then I finished up a timeline for our Web site.

As my editor, Todd, and I were debriefing and talking about the continuing coverage tomorrow and through the rest of the week we looked up the story to see how USA TODAY placed it online. There it was, a huge photo of Hinckley across the top of the page with my byline “above the fold,” right on the main page of usatoday.com. Except there was an inaccurate headline thanks to AP, but we soon set them straight.

So it’s been a crazy night and it will likely be a crazy week or two. I’m probably heading up to Salt Lake City at some point to cover the funeral, so that will be another adventure. I just hope that with all the work that I have time to sit down and remember this great man and the wisdom of his teachings. I know he was God’s prophet here on earth. And there’s not a better man out there. But I know he’s having a joyous reunion right now with his dear wife.